Monday, May 29, 2017

Honor Student Threatened With Arrest For Wearing a Shirt That Showed Her Collarbone -- What??

What is going on at this North Carolina school? A female senior honor roll student with a 4.4 GPA was threatened with arrest by the principal, accompanied by the school security guard with a gun in his pocket, for violating the school dress code.
Summer is a senior at Hickory Ridge High School in Harrisburg, North Carolina. One day she wore a shirt that showed her collarbones but was far from indecent or even inappropriate. Yet she was approached by the school principal, along with a security guard. “[The security guard] was within five feet of me, he had his hand on his gun,” Summer said.

Summer gladly put on a jacket and thought that was the end of it. But the principal insisted she change her clothes and told her, "I’m gonna give you an ultimatum. We have tried to call your mother. You either come with me to the control room to change your shirt or we will arrest you.”

Fortunately, Summer's mother called just before the school put the handcuffs on her. Unfortunately, Summer was suspended from school for 10 days and banned from all senior activities including high school graduation. The school accused her of “insubordination.”

What message are we sending to young women?

The action taken by the school principal is both shocking and also sends a discouraging message to young girls everywhere. Summer worked hard to achieve a 4.4 GPA which should open many doors to her when it comes to selecting colleges. But on the other hand, she is being told she cannot show her collarbone in public. She did not show up wearing blatantly offensive or inappropriate clothing. Her shirt had a scoop neck that showed her collarbone. For that, she will be punished by missing many important school activities in her senior year that will be gone forever. What were these school officials thinking?

What do you think? Look at the picture of Summer's shirt to determine if the school officials acted far outside their boundaries when it comes to enforcing their version of appropriate dress.